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I will one day be teaching high school theatre. Theatre not only includes acting, singing, and dancing but it also includes memorization, collaboration, and social skills. This specific unit that I will be presenting in this Padlet is my Duet Scene unit. In this unit students are going to be given a scene and a partner and they will memorize the scene, block their scene, and perform it for me with their partner.

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Content Objectives:

1) Students will memorize and block a given duet scene.

2) Students will perform a duet scene for the teacher and for the class.

Language Objective:

1) You will be given a scene by the teacher and with a partner you will read and memorize a scene. You will also assign blocking (movement patterns) to the scene.

2) You will use your knowledge of Theatre and of your scene and you will perform your memorized scene in front of the teacher and the class.

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Reading selections to assist in your duet scenes

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Reading selections to assist in your duet scenes

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DUET SCENES AND DIALOGS

Learning to prepare an artistic work for performance takes practice, and we have the perfect resources to build those skills.  Duet scenes, whether on the stage or in the classroom, create a unique connection that invites a pair of actors to respond directly to each other’s meaning and intent.  These duet scenes are perfect for Thespian festivals, forensic competitions, and classroom work on scene and character development.

https://www.pioneerdrama.com/Text-Duet-Scenes.asp

WHAT IS SCENE STUDY?

Scene study involves actors taking a specific scene from a movie, television or play and working on it in front of an acting instructor or a group of peers.  The goal is to receive specific constructive feedback that helps the actor improve their craft and their abilities in specific roles. Scene Study is a way for actors to continually work on their craft and discover their strengths and weaknesses. It’s a great way to take all the exercises and techniques they have learned to create characters, connect to the emotions of the part, and fight for what they need and put them into a performance.

https://www.emasla.com/what-is-scene-study/

Blocking

So, how do you make the blocking good?

Suggestion One:  Work on angles and triangles.  In most blocking, there is too much back and forth and not enough up and down.

Suggestion Two:  If you are working on a proscenium stage, don’t be afraid to let actors who are not the moment’s focus have their backs to the audience.  For a bit.  It’s not illegal.

Suggestion Three:  Actors who are playing to another actor should have their feet pointed directly at that actor.  Amateurish blocking has everybody facing front, which was fine for the 18th century.

Suggestion Four:  Do you have the lead actors “eating the stage”?  An actor playing a leading role should have been everywhere on the set before the play is over.  Did she sit on the stairs?  Did she ever get down on the floor?  Has she been in every chair the set provides?  Use what you’ve got.

Suggestion Five:  This might even be a rule.  Make sure that sometimes more than one actor is moving at a time.  Otherwise, you have:  I move, then he moves, then she moves — which is the kindergarten of blocking.

Suggestion Six:  Don’t always have the actor move off the end of the line.  Sometimes move them in the middle of the line.  Otherwise, it’s stilted.

Suggestion Seven:  Watch dance.  Watch ballet.  They have much to teach us about movement.

https://www.pioneerdrama.com/Newsletter/Articles/Blocking_Notes.asp

Memorization

Fortunately for anyone who now thinks to themselves, “Well, I’m not good at memorizing anything,” your brain is a muscle and can be trained. Your brain memorizes information in four steps: attention, encoding, storage, and retrieval.

https://asana.com/resources/memorization-techniques

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Passage Readability of Scene Study Passage

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Passage Readability of Scene Study Passage

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Passage:
“WHAT IS SCENE STUDY?

Scene study involves actors taking a specific scene from a movie, television or play and working on it in front of an acting instructor or a group of peers.  The goal is to receive specific constructive feedback that helps the actor improve their craft and their abilities in specific roles. Scene Study is a way for actors to continually work on their craft and discover their strengths and weaknesses. It’s a great way to take all the exercises and techniques they have learned to create characters, connect to the emotions of the part, and fight for what they need and put them into a performance.”

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Theatre- The art of performing a written work on a stage in front of an audience.
Duet Scene- A scene from a play that two actors will perform together.

Thespian- Another word for an actor or an actress.

Scene Study- Working on a scene with a partner or alone so that you learn the scene and improve your craft.

Acting Instructor- The theatre teacher

Techniques- Different strategies that you can use to improve your acting skills and keep the audience entertained.

Characters- The people, animals, and other things in a play that speak.

Performance- Presenting a scene or a show in front of an audience, sometimes on a stage.

Blocking- The movement patterns of a show, where each character moves when he/she speaks.

Proscenium- The frame or arch separating the stage from the audience with a curtain, through which the action of a play is viewed.

Audience- The place in the theatre where the people watch to play or scene from.

Set- The building, furniture, and scenery constructed on the stage that the actors perform in and on during a show.

Lines- The dialogue that each character speaks during the show.

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As a mini lesson before the main lesson, to get the students comfortable with acting with a partner, I will have them participate in a duet acting exercise. They will practice a very short scene with a partner until they are a little more comfortable. Every pair will do the same scene. They will not have to block it or perform it in front of the class but they will have to memorize it. The scene is as follows:

1: Hi.
2: Hello.
1: How‘s everything?
2: Fine I guess.
1: Do you know what time it is?
2: No. Not exactly.
1: Don’t you have a watch?
2: Not on me.
1: Well.
2: Well, what?
1: What did you do last night?
2: What do you mean?
1: What did you do last night?
2: Nothing.
1: Nothing?
2: I said nothing.
1: Sorry I asked.
2: Well that’s okay.

The students will pair up and run the scene repeatedly with their partner until it is memorized. They will then perform it for me, the teacher, memorized.

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An anticipation guide is a worksheet that the student will fill out twice. Once before reading a passage and once after reading a passage. They will answer to the best of their ability before reading the passage and then after they read the passage they should know the answers.

This Anticipation Guide is about this passage:

“Blocking

So, how do you make the blocking good?

Suggestion One:  Work on angles and triangles.  In most blocking, there is too much back and forth and not enough up and down.

Suggestion Two:  If you are working on a proscenium stage, don’t be afraid to let actors who are not the moment’s focus have their backs to the audience.  For a bit.  It’s not illegal.

Suggestion Three:  Actors who are playing to another actor should have their feet pointed directly at that actor.  Amateurish blocking has everybody facing front, which was fine for the 18th century.

Suggestion Four:  Do you have the lead actors “eating the stage”?  An actor playing a leading role should have been everywhere on the set before the play is over.  Did she sit on the stairs?  Did she ever get down on the floor?  Has she been in every chair the set provides?  Use what you’ve got.

Suggestion Five:  This might even be a rule.  Make sure that sometimes more than one actor is moving at a time.  Otherwise, you have:  I move, then he moves, then she moves — which is the kindergarten of blocking.

Suggestion Six:  Don’t always have the actor move off the end of the line.  Sometimes move them in the middle of the line.  Otherwise, it’s stilted.

Suggestion Seven:  Watch dance.  Watch ballet.  They have much to teach us about movement.“

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Passage:
“DUET SCENES AND DIALOGS

Learning to prepare an artistic work for performance takes practice, and we have the perfect resources to build those skills.  Duet scenes, whether on the stage or in the classroom, create a unique connection that invites a pair of actors to respond directly to each other’s meaning and intent.  These duet scenes are perfect for Thespian festivals, forensic competitions, and classroom work on scene and character development.”

Blooms Questions:
Remembering- Where are duet scenes good to be performed at?

Applying- How would you go about a duet scene?

Creating- What duet scene would you do if given the choice?

Analyzing- How is a duet scene similar to and different from a monologue?

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A Cloze passage is a way for students to comprehend what they are reading in real time. The student uses context clues and inferencing to fill in the blanks of the passage.

Original Passage:
“Memorization

Fortunately for anyone who now thinks to themselves, “Well, I’m not good at memorizing anything,” your brain is a muscle and can be trained. Your brain memorizes information in four steps: attention, encoding, storage, and retrieval.”

Cloze Passage:
“___________

Fortunately for anyone who now _____ to themselves, “Well, I’m not _____ at memorizing anything,” your ______ is a muscle and can be _______. Your brain memorizes _______ in four steps: attention, encoding, storage, and retrieval.”

Word Bank:
Brain, Memorization, Trained, Good, Thinks, Information

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Duet Scenes and Dialogues:
Duet scenes are a way to build skills by working directly with another actor to develop your characters.

Scene Study:
Scene study is taking a scene and working on it many times in order to improve your craft and use the techniques you hav learned.

Blocking:
What was done in the 1800s is no longer what has to be done today, there are many different ways to block a scene and there is no specific “right” way to block a scene or show.

Memorization:
Memorization occurs in many different steps and ways and there is not a “correct” way to memorize.

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https://www.pioneerdrama.com/Text-Duet-Scenes.asp

https://www.emasla.com/what-is-scene-study/

https://www.pioneerdrama.com/Newsletter/Articles/Blocking_Notes.asp

https://asana.com/resources/memorization-techniques

https://readabilityformulas.com/calculator-fry-graph-readability-formula.php#formulaResults

Book:

Acting One

By: Robert Cohen